Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Wednesday, and it’s time for another post in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews. If you’d like to participate in the challenge yourself, you can find the list of topics for 2026 here. If you’re interested in reading other people’s responses to this week’s topic, then you can find them here.
Books Set Near Where I Live
There are lots of books set in the north east of England. Being on a beautiful section of the British coast helps to provide atmosphere, and there’s plenty of history to write about too.
One of our most famous authors, a woman called Catherine Cookson, wrote over a hundred books and set most of her stories in 19th- and 20th-century South Tyneside, where I live and where she was born and raised. Many have even been turned into TV films.
Anne Cleeves wrote the Vera Stanhope novel series about a skilled detective who cares deeply about her work. There was a TV series adaptation, which has now ended, but there are 14 series (Seasons) and a special.
Dark Crimes of Jarrow by Natasha Windham explores the dark side of Victorian and Edwardian boom-town Jarrow (the town that borders mine), pulling real newspaper archives of brawls, love triangles, and murders near Palmers Shipyard.
The South Shields Poltergeist by Darren W. Ritson & Michael J. Hallowell is a non-fiction (supposedly) book that chronicles a well-documented case of paranormal activity that terrorised a family in the town of South Shields. Now, I’mnot a believer in the paranormal, but the book gave me shivers when I read it in bed at night.
Anyway, that’s all from me for today. I’m looking forward to seeing what some of you come up with!
Thanks, as always, for stopping by to read my post. It really does mean the world.
Until next time,
George
© 2026 GLT
Categories: life, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge
GEORGE L THOMAS 
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